May is National Electrical Safety Month!
May is National Electrical Safety Month!
We work hard to protect our homes from fire, by installing and regularly testing smoke alarms, avoiding common fire hazards and teaching fire safety to family members of all ages.
But do you know how to practice fire safety when you’re out in public places? A fire can happen anywhere, anytime, and in an unfamiliar setting, it’s easy to panic. The National Fire Protection Association has put together some suggestions to help you feel safe wherever you go!
Before You Enter
Before you enter any public building, take a good look around and make sure it feels safe, well maintained and easy to exit. You should have a clearly communicated exit plan, as well as an agreed-upon meeting point and a designated emergency contact in case you need to leave the building quickly. You should locate all available exits; plan to use the closest exit, as the main exit might not always be accessible during an emergency.
Once Inside
After identifying all available exits, you’ll want to make sure the path to each exit is clear, and that exit doors are not blocked or chained. Public spaces should have at least two clear exits.
Take note of any other possible fire hazards, such as overcrowding, unsafe heat sources, pyrotechnics or lack of standard safety systems such as sprinklers and smoke alarms.
If you do not feel safe in the building, leave immediately. If necessary, report violations to building management and the local fire marshal.
During An Emergency
The best thing you can do in the face of a fire is to react immediately.
“If an alarm sounds, you see smoke or fire, or some other unusual disturbance immediately exit the building in an orderly fashion,” the NFPA warns.
Then, get out — and stay out! — so that trained firefighters can conduct rescue operations.
No one wants to miss out on Aug. 21’s total solar eclipse. Here are some CCFR-approved tips to make sure you and your family are able to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime event safely!
Viewing the Eclipse
The most-often given piece of eclipse safety advice — don’t look directly at it — can’t be given often enough. Looking directly at a solar eclipse can result in permanent vision loss.
Instead, viewers should wear an approved pair of solar viewers, purchased from a reputable manufacturer and featuring an ISO 12312-2 certification. Eclipse glasses are thousands of times darker than regular sunglasses and block out all other light. Keep a close eye on curious kids, who might be tempted to take their glasses off, or keep them indoors until the two or so minutes of totality, when it is safe to view the eclipse without solar viewers. Not everyone in St. Louis is in the path of totality; click here for NASA’s map to determine where your location falls in the path.
Driving During the Eclipse
Parts of the St. Louis area will see a total eclipse, while others will see a partial eclipse. Tourists are already flocking to towns in the path of totality and traffic is expected to be a major issue in the area. If you are planning to drive somewhere to view the eclipse, give yourself plenty of time to get there and make sure you keep these recommendations from the Department of Transportation in mind if you end up behind the wheel during the event:
Being prepared before, and knowing what to do after the storm hits are critical to the safety of those who experience severe weather.
It’s simple, working smoke alarms save lives. Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
CCFR encourages everyone to take two minutes on the second of every month to check their smoke alarms.You can test your alarm by pressing the test button in the center of the alarm.
If you cannot reach your smoke alarm, cannot change the batteries, or have other questions about your smoke alarm contact CCFR for complimentary assistance at 636.970.9700 or email us.
Millions of toy boxes, storage containers and hope chests have lids that automatically latch shut, or can close suddenly. This can be deadly if a child climbs inside. The recent death of two children prompted the Consumer Product Safety Commission to renew its warning to consumers about the dangers of these boxes. Click here for details.
In 2004 Facebook was launched and Friends left our televisions. It seems like yesterday, but if that’s the last time you replaced your smoke alarms it’s time for a change.
“Working smoke detectors are critical to saving lives in a house fire, and as they age they become less reliable,” says CCFR Chief Russ Mason. As the electrical components in the alarms get older they become more susceptible to false alarms and other problems.
Smoke alarms save lives by giving people an opportunity to escape a fire before it is too late. “Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths result from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms,” says Mason. “Simply updating and maintaining your smoke detectors could save your life.”
Install smoke alarms:
If you do not know how, or cannot replace your smoke alarm batteries, cannot afford a smoke alarm, or have other smoke alarm questions CCFR can provide complimentary assistance. Call CCFR at 636.970.9700, or e-mail us for details.
Spontaneous combustion fires may sound like something out of a science fiction movie; unfortunately it is a dangerous situation that has hit two local businesses in the past year. In both of the incidents, freshly laundered towels placed on a counter caused a chemical reaction to occur, and a fire ensued.
When towels or other linens soiled with cooking oil or cleaning chemicals are washed in a normal washer and dryer they are not truly clean; residue remains on the linens. The heat of the dryer can start and accelerate the spontaneous heating process of the oil residue left in the towels. When they are piled together the heat has no way to escape and the natural material continues to heat up until a fire occurs. A similar reaction can occur if a washer or dryer used to launder soiled linens is not cleaned and well maintained.
We highly recommend that you send your laundry out to a commercial laundry service that has the proper equipment to handle these volatile oils and cleaning chemicals.
If you have any questions about how to keep your business safe, or if you would like CCFR firefighters to provide complimentary employee training on fire extinguisher usage, or other safety topics please do not hesitate to call us at 636.970.9700 or send us an email. With your help we can keep our community safe.
It only takes a second for a kitchen fire to start when someone steps away to answer a phone call, leaves a dishtowel too close to the stove, or overfills a frying pan with oil. These types of accidents result in more than 100,000 home fires every year according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). As part of its Fire Prevention Month, Central County Fire & Rescue (CCFR) is working to prevent these accidents by building awareness about kitchen fire prevention throughout October.
“With all of the open heat sources, it is easy to see why two out of every five home fires start in the kitchen, and why they are the leading cause of home fire-related injuries” says CCFR Chief Russ Mason. “Many people are simply unaware of the real dangers present in their kitchens.”
CCFR and the NFPA recommend following these tips to avoid a kitchen fire:
Throughout the month, CCFR firefighters will present safety lessons to kindergarten through third grade classrooms throughout the fire district. Kitchen fire prevention information will also be distributed at community events and through the District’s enewsletter and website. CCFR’s Fire Prevention Month is in conjunction with NFPA’s Fire Prevention Week, which is the longest running public health and safety observance on record.